“All hands on Deck! Everyone is required to meet the newest member of the crew… Gentlemen, I’ve called you here so that you can meet the new clock. His name is Bremont, and he is going to be our new B-1 Marine Clock aboard the ship. You are ordered to treat him like one of us. He is better looking that most of you aboard, and I say don’t say this lightly – Bremont’s life if probably worth more than any of yours. Perkins! Yes you. I am assigning you to Bremont maintenance and security duty. You are required to check in with Bremont to wind him each 4 weeks. You aren’t allowed to forget. He is mechanical, but not perpetual. Also, and just as important – in the event the ship goes down, or we are in a some particularly nasty weather – you are to secure this life preserver around Bremont. He is water tight, but won’t float. I can’t afford to lose Bremont. You will value him over your, and other people’s lives! Do not disappoint me….”

That is pretty much how I imagine life aboard a ship would be like for the privileged captain or ship owner that will get themselves a new Bremont Marine Clock. The first clock from the young British brand is a beauty. It is themed on the first Marine Chronometer – another English invention. John Harrison invented the marine chronometer – a very important creation that finally allowed for improved naval navigation. Check out the image of one here in the post below. This was back in the 18th century. John Harrison the clock maker, and the story behind the marine chronometer are super interesting, but a story for another day. You can learn more on Wikipedia here.

Bremont will manufacture the Marine Clock 100% in England – a fine return to English clock making, and great for the brand. While not a limited edition per se, the Marine Clock will be produced in very limited quantities, with only 10 – 15 pieces made each year. The first of which will be delivered in early 2011. The purpose of the clock is to be used as a precise and relied upon instrument aboard fine boats. On anything from classy well-kept wooden sailing ships to super yachts. Or your living room if you deem it proper.  Everyone is gonna love one of these, and the clock is totally mechanical.

In addition to the time, the Marine Clock has a lot of cool functions. It will also have a power reserve indicator on the dial (very important), given that it has a power reserve of one month (it would be hell to remember when it needs to be wound without the indicator). The clock has multiple time zones – (local time, home time, and Greenwich mean time). There is a subsidiary seconds indicator for the main time – with some nice exposed gear work in an open space about the seconds subdial. The home time dial is the smaller dial with Roman numerals, while the main time uses attractive Arabic numerals. The GMT time is told in traditional 24 hour format around the the large face of the clock just as you would find on a wrist watch. Last, the Marine Clock features a special chronograph mechanism that functions as a “trip or voyage time” counter. This features can measure (using hours as units) a trip time of up to 90 days. There is a double handed counter that goes up to 90 on the outside (for the days), and has a 24 hour scale on the side (for each hour of the day).

Even though the clock needs to be manually wound – this process is said to be easy, while the clock is still water resistant. The details and beauty of the clock are all added benefits. What is important to Bremont is that the clock function as a serious functional tool. It is highly legible, using high contrast hands. Lovely used of traditional blued steel hands for the hours, minutes, and seconds. Customers who order Bremont Marine Clocks will have lots of customization options available to them. Including a variety of decorative options and colors. Bremont really wants customers to feel as though their Bremont Marine Clocks perfect fit the look and theme of their vessels. Not totally sure about size, but they are  meant to be “robust” clocks. Price will be about $58,000 each for these hand-done mechanical ship clocks from Bremont. I bet a scaled down wrist watch version would do nicely as well.